Today is Saturday! Which means that #BizTipsbyELLE will be posted throughout the day at the PRbyELLE77 FB Site! Make sure that you “like” the page!

Also, PRbyELLE77 will turn one on March 1st! We will host an anniversary photo challenge via Instagram, and we are also celebrating a phenomenal man in the month of March! Information regarding the competition will ONLY be posted via the PRbyELLE77 FB Site!

I certainly appreciate your endless support of the blogs and my business!!

You can’t tell me that there isn’t a time in your life that you haven’t said (in some way) “I NEED TO SAVE MORE MONEY”! You may not even be a big spender, but the LITTLE things add up SO very quickly! Yes, we contribute to 401K, and other Savings & Thrift type plans w employers (well…at least I HOPE you do), but that will not really be enough, considering that SOME of us will not see the benefits of Social Security checks. *sigh* Moving on…

Well I’m going to give you some of my personal tips on saving money, here and there. Small amounts of saving—just like spending money on little things—will also add up, if you are consistent w your plan to save!

·Save all silver coins, whenever you break bills and receive loose change. The amount of money that you will be able to amass this way is indescribable. Watch just how QUICKLY you will fill up your money jar(s) as well!

·Have your funds set up to pull at least 10% of your paycheck from your checking account, and have that directed to a savings account. If you can’t do 10%, do 5%; if you can do more than 10%, by all means do so. For example, my company has a credit union and I have an account w the credit union. Every paycheck, I have a certain amount of funds pulled from my account; I don’t miss/can’t spend what I don’t see.

·Whenever you break larger bills, force yourself to save ALL $1 bills. We have tried this, and it actually works. Of course, emergencies arise—which are understandable—and we’ve had to dip into it from time to time. But when you can look up and see how many dollar bills you have accumulated, JUST from “small purchases”, you will be amazed.

·Force yourself to write down, in a small notebook, EVERYTHING that you spend (not bill money). I have also done THIS particular method (which I will start back in Jan2013)—down to the $.75 spent on a pop at the office; it actually pissed me off to see how much money left my hands for insignificant things/things I could certainly do without. As the weeks and months passed, I noticed that I was writing less and less in that book…

·As the old phrase goes? “Brown Bag It”. Enough said! You save tons of money by preparing your lunch at home, than by spending it in the deli at work, OR going to local restaurants in your area. I make an honest attempt to brown bag it four days out of my five day work week. A treat would be to buy my lunch once a week from a favorite eatery!

·Put someone else (SOMEONE THAT YOU TRUST AND SOMEONE GOOD W FINANCES) in charge of your savings. For example, if you’re deciding that you want to save $50/paycheck, but you KNOW you will dip into it, give it to someone that you absolutely trust will not spend your money; so, sort of like a “bill” that you pay each paycheck.

These are just a few that are tried and true—by either myself or those close to me—and I wanted to share them w you! START SAVING FOR YOUR RETIREMENT ON YOUR OWN! No matter how LITTLE you think it is, it WILL add up in the end!

DISCLAIMER: As previously stated, these are methods that I have personally tried and found to be helpful, or methods that I have been made aware of that friends have tried. Use any of these methods at your own risk. I am not a financial guru; I cannot personally be held liable if one or more of these methods do not work for your individual situation. If need be, seek advice from a financial professional. Thank You.